NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario was on Wednesday convicted over the 2016 Rio 2016 Olympic Games financial scandal, after been found guilty of abuse of office and misuse of public funds.
Anti-Corruption Magistrate Elizabeth Juma found that the former Sports CS took advantage of his office and had three other persons included in the Kenyan team that was travelling to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and had allowances paid to them.
She said the late inclusion of the three persons contributed to confusion that resulted to loss of public funds.
The magistrate further noted that Wario did not have the mandate to allow the three travel to Rio.
The three were identified in court as Monica Sairo, Richard Abura and Edan Adow.
“The additional names were included after they closed the accreditation… clearly this was an indicator that the three were not part of the team Kenya,” the court ruled.
At least Sh88.6 million was reported to have been embezzled following an investigation in November 2016.
Also convicted was Team Kenya leader in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Stephen Soi.
Wario and Soi were remanded at the Gigiri Police Station pending sentencing on Thursday.
All the other accused persons were acquitted of the charges leveled against them for lack of sufficient evidence.
Former Sports Principal Secretary Richard Ekai is among those who were acquitted on Wednesday.
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